EOW Chennai arrests former IL&FS Group head Ravi Parthasarathy in 'Rs 1 lakh crore scam'

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The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Chennai police arrested former Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS) group chief Ravi Partharasarathy on June 11, in connection to the alleged Rs 1 lakh crore scam.

"The king pin and the mastermind of the 1 lakh crore IL&FS scam Mr. Ravi Parthasarathy has been arrested by EOW in connection with Crime No.13 of 2020 dated 20.09.2020," said a statement issued by EOW Chennai.

The IL&FS group which consists of more than 350 group companies was used as a "vehicle to perpetrate fraud" by then management of IL&FS group which was headed by the then chairman and MD CEO Mr. Ravi Parthasarathy, the statement added.

The FIR has been registered in connection with the complaint given by 63 Moons Technologies Ltd who has lost a sum of Rs 200 crores, EOW Chennai said, adding that complaints have also been received from various other depositors.

The anticipatory bail petition filed by Parthasarathy was, earlier, dismissed by the Madras High Court.

"Aggrieved depositors and investors of ITNL can forward their claims to EOW," the commercial crime probing department said.

Also Read | IL&FS says it has addressed Rs 43,000 crore debt resolution till date

The IL&FS crisis surfaced in July 2018, when the company began defaulting on its debt repayments due to a severe liquidity crisis. The company collapsed in around August 2018, when it started defaulting on bonds that came due to investors.

The company, which started as a road construction financing company, had quietly grown to around 347 subsidiaries and amassed a debt pile of about Rs 91,000 crore by the time the crisis broke out in the group. The NBFC merrily rolled over securities until things came to a grinding halt. Rating agencies, analysts and regulators waited till the last moment to act.

When IL&FS finally started to default on its payments to institutions, it triggered panic in financial markets. In October 2018, the government set up a panel under veteran banker Uday Kotak to set the resolution process rolling in IL&FS empire. Late last year, at the new board’s first AGM, Kotak said through resolution the new board expects to recover at least half of Rs 90,000 crore debt on IL&FS books. That work is still in progress.

The new IL&FS management has claimed to have addressed aggregate group debt of Rs 43,000 crore till date through sale of assets and through other cash receivables.

Also, it has increased the debt recovery target to Rs 61,000 crore, the company said as part of its quarterly update on the progress of the ongoing Group resolution process, the company said on April 15.

Out of total 347 entities under IL&FS Group, as of October 2018, a total of 186 entities stand resolved, while the remaining 161 entities are under various stages of resolution, it had claimed.